


Mortal Man

by TeraKaren



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, rogue canary - Freeform, the rest of the crew mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 04:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7252450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeraKaren/pseuds/TeraKaren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sara and Mick deal with their past and present selves, literally because of time travel. Leonard Snart is a nuisance. Kendra is amused.<br/>Takes place during episode 1x12 Last Refuge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mortal Man

**Author's Note:**

> So...I really like Sara. Also, Kendrick Lamar songs fuel 50% of all fanfics I write for this fandom.

Sara walked into the bridge of the ship. There were only two people there as most of the crew were off getting baby Jax, including Jax himself it would seem. Sara could see Rip in his study looking for coordinates to somewhere safe for them to hide their younger selves. The other person, Mick, was sitting on the floor, next to a chair, with his legs sprawled out in front of him, eyes transfixed forward.

Sara couldn’t help but think that the way he looked was more Snart than Chronos and she wondered if it meant anything, but didn’t examine it too hard. He was looking at the monitor that showed their younger selves holding the baby versions of Snart and Stein and talking to each other about something, but sound didn’t come with the video so she didn't know what it was they were saying.

Sara sat next to Mick with her legs straight in front of her, automatically mimicking his body language and recognizing that she was doing it because her training had taught her that mimicking other people’s body language made them trust you more. She didn’t have it in her to feel bad about it though she thought she should feel something, but nothing came to surface.

“Anything interesting going on down there?” she asked, looking at him and not the screen, though she did notice Kendra stepping into frame with Leonard following after her. She’d seen Kendra in the fabrication chamber earlier making baby bottles and formula for the newborns, who would need the nutrients. 

“Not much. Our younger selves have gotten more chummy,” he said with obvious disgust, never moving his eyes from the screen, “Haven’t stopped chatting each other up since me an’ Rip gave ‘em the professor.”

“Well it’s not like they have anything else to do down there.” Sara moved her eyes to the screen, watching Kendra hand out the bottles to the kids. Sara’s younger self just took the bottle, but Mick’s younger self looked confused when handed the bottle and Kendra showed him how to feed the baby in his arms. Sara’s teenage self’s eyes lingered on Kendra while her beautiful friend’s focus was on baby Snart. Sara felt embarrassment creeping up at what she recognized as her younger self checking out her friend even though her younger self didn’t know that was what she was doing when she stared too long at Kendra’s ass.

“God, was I always that obvious?” Sara questioned no one in particular.

“Wouldn’t know,” Mick responded anyway.

“Well, it would have saved me a lot of soul searching if someone had just mentioned ‘Hey, women are pretty and you want to touch them in a not-just-friend’s way’”

“ _You_ can tell her now.” He moved his head to look at her and she met his gaze. He had that intense look in his eyes that she couldn’t tell if it meant that he had some hidden meaning to those words or if he was messing with her. He was right, but her choice in partners had gotten her on that damn island, and that needed to happen. Too many people’s lives counted on that. She also thought of transfixing brown eyes and gentle touches from deadly hands that she wouldn't trade for any increase of ease in her life.

“She’ll figure it out eventually,” Sara said casually, not biting the bait Mick had set. He huffed and turned back to the monitors. Sara followed suit.

Kendra was looking over at Snart, the grown up version, who had not even entered the room and was generally no help. Kendra’s look made the two teenagers look his way too. Sara noticed that both Mick next to her and Leonard on the screen stiffened when they did.

Snart said something biting, she’s sure. Her younger self responded with something, not happy to take whatever Snart said without some sort of fight. It made Sara smirk. The younger version of Mick said something as well, but Snart looked to still be glaring at Sara’s younger self. He tore his eyes away to look at younger Mick, and the Mick next to her growled.

“What does that idiot think he’s doing?”

Sara didn’t know if he was talking about Snart or his younger self, but he seemed unhappy with their interaction.

“There a problem?” she asked. Mick huffed and stayed quiet for a few seconds before speaking.

“That little punk down there has already met Snart. If he recognizes the older version of him, it could possibly do some...timeline...thing. A bad one. Rip wouldn't shut up about it.”

Sara studied him with her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed.

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what, Blondie?”

“Pretend to know less than you do?” He turned and gave her a curious look. “I mean, we all know you were Chronos, you know time bounty hunter who worked for the Time Masters for who knows how long and was a general pain in our asses. You have to know more about that ‘timeline thing’ than you let on.”

Mick’s expression didn't change as he continued to stare at her. He eventually looked away and looked at the floor instead.

“What the Time Masters did to make me Chronos, it erased who I was. Really and truly gone,” he said bitterly, “Mick Rory is a memory that fits better than seems possible. He- I don't like being Chronos much, so he- I rejects everything that has to do with Chronos.”

Sara looked as relaxed as she had before, but Mick had just basically admitted that a good chunk of who he was currently was still Chronos. Sara had bent her legs and wrapped her arms around her knees through his explanation so that the reach time to take out the knife on her ankle decreased by .5 seconds.

She told herself that he’d made no move to attack her and that he’d also said that the Mick part of him was winning this internal tug-o-war, and how weird that the man who betrayed them was the lesser evil against Chronos. Both Mick and Chronos had tried to kill the crew after all.

But her blood still sang for him to attack so she could stick her knife into the artery in his thigh and let him bleed out while she stabbed him. 

Sara smiled an understanding smile.

“You know, after I came back from the dead, I had already lived several lives. I was Sara Lance. I was Ta-er al-Safar and the Canary. The Pit had taken all my lives away from me, emptied me out until all that was left was the need to kill.” Sara looked to see if Mick knew what she was getting at, and by the grim set of his mouth, she was sure he did. “The support of my family, going back into the League for two years in the 50’s, the purpose this mission has given me. They all have helped me be a person again, but…”

“You haven't gotten rid of it, what you turned into,” Mick answered, catching what Sara was throwing. She nodded the affirmative.

“What do you do about it?” Mick asked with genuine curiosity, which surprised her. She leaned back on her palms, increasing her ankle knife reach time again, but decreasing her pocket knife reach time in half.

“I move on. I need to accept I'm a new person. I'm who I’ve always been, but with an uncontrollable new element. Like a sleeping monster except it's not sleeping.” She sounded more assured than she felt, but she had enough hope that it could be true for her to at least sound convincing. Even to herself. Especially to herself.

“Do you want to kill me?” Mick asked, suddenly looking at her, a challenge in his eyes.

“Yes,” she says honestly, willing to meet his challenge, “but I won't.”

He nodded at that, coming to some unknown conclusion.

“Do you want to kill me?” She asked curiously. Chronos’ mission was always to kill them and Mick hadn't exactly left the crew on good terms.

He looked at her for a moment with his eyebrows pulled together and looked away. 

“No,” he said to which Sara was immensely surprised.

“Really?”

He didn't even so much as shrug. He just didn't say anything. In the silence, Sara looked back up at the monitors for the cargo bay. Adult Snart looked to have decided it was time to go and was leaving, but then Mick’s younger self stood up, baby in his arms, and said something to him, Sara’s younger self looked satisfied at what he’d said as she rocked baby Stein, and Kendra looked amused.

Sara looked over at the Mick next to her.

“Do you want to kill him?” She asked, flicking her chin to the monitors when he looked at her to see where her sight line was.

He watched as his younger self insisted that Snart take the baby while the older Snart sneered at him. Mick frowned, his jaw locked, and his eyes narrowed.

“I understand if you do,” she said casually, seeming to catch him by surprise.

“He stranded you, condemned you to a slow, cruel death. I've been stranded before. I know that helplessness, that hunger. I would have killed with my bare hands before I did that to another person, and I'm not someone you trust.”

“It's not like that,” Mick murmured, but the respect that had been in his eyes before he’d said anything has been very real.

“Oh, then what’s it like?” She asked, remembering the same words coming out of Snart's mouth when they had been freezing to death. Despite their glaring differences, they must have rubbed off on each other in the years between now and when Leonard had met him at 14.

Mick didn't respond to her question, but he might not have the answer himself, she figured.

“That bastard!” Mick was suddenly standing up and Sara stood up with him.

“What’s going on?” She asked, standing in his way with one hand out to indicate that he stop.

Her eyes were focused on Mick, keeping eye contact to establish dominance, predator to predator. It was only Mick’s half second, irritated glance at the monitors that made her look away.

On the monitors, Snart was now holding the newborn version of himself and Mick’s younger self had a lighter in his hands. That explained that. She turned her attention back to Mick, who was walking around her.

She stopped him again, this time by gripping his arm. He paused for a moment before yanking his arm away, but in that moment she was able to resume eye contact.

“I'll handle it,” she said firmly, leaving no room for argument. “I've got this, I promise.”

He didn’t say anything or emote anything, but when he pulled away, he didn't try to move around her again. She wasn't sure if that would work, but it seemed it did and she was just grateful that she’d avoided that fight on the ship. Her hand itched for a knife.

“Thank you,” she said in parting and headed to the cargo bay. When she got down there, nobody had moved from where they’d been on the video.

Her younger self was sitting on a box, still rocking baby Stein and giving her fellow time refugee a weird look. Mick was sitting on the floor, against the box across from her, attention completely focused on the small flame from the lighter. Snart was leaning against the box Mick was sitting against, examining his newborn self with a smirk.

“You were such an adorable baby,” Kendra said to Snart, looking amused standing in the middle of everyone with her arms crossed, “what happened?”

“The hard knock life, sweetheart, and I never got a dog named Sandy,” he drawled back, shooting Kendra his usual grin.

“You knew him when he was a baby?” Sara’s younger self spoke up, squinting suspiciously at Kendra, “How old are you?”

Kendra turned to her and the tired look she got when she thought about her past lives and destiny crossed her face.

“Older than you think,” she replied shortly and turned to give a curious look at Leonard.

“Never took you for the Little Orphan Annie type.” Kendra raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m full of fun little tidbits,” he suddenly looked at Sara, “but I’m certain they're not nearly as torrid as her’s are.”

Sara gave him an indulgent smile, but marched up to the teenage Mick and crouched next to him so she was eye level. She held out her hand.

“How about you hand that over?” She asked him, but it didn't seem he’d heard her, “Hey, you listening?”

His eyes stayed transfixed on the small flame and she’d seen enough addicts of all kinds in her life to know that kind of hopeless concentration. Strangely enough, the brief flittering of Laurel and her father across her mind brought on feelings of homesickness. That was disturbing.

Mick didn't seem to be harming anyone, and her instinct was to leave it well enough alone. If it wasn't for what the older version of the kid might do combined with how harmless she knew Mick was not, she probably would have. Instead she closed the lid of the lighter and snatched it away quickly. The metal was hot in her hand.

“Hey!” The younger Mick objected as Sara stood up, pocketing the lighter in one of the back pockets of her jeans.

“Where did you even get that thing anyway?” she asked younger Mick.

“That guy gave it to him,” her younger self answered for him. Sara looked at her for long enough to see her tilt her chin to Leonard, but not any longer. She didn't want her connecting the dots that they were the same person. She'd figure it out eventually, but hopefully the Waverider would be long gone. Instead she gave Leonard a put upon look.

“Seriously?” She'd suspected as much.

“The kid likes fire,” he replied with a shrug.

“Yeah, a little too much.” She sensed younger Mick shrink away from her, but her eyes never left Leonard.

“And how was I supposed to know that he’d be that into it?” He drawled at her with a challenging glare. The bastard knew she couldn't answer that in present company. 

“Gee, I don't know,” she said sarcastically. Luckily there were other reasons why giving a kid a lighter after his family burned to death was a bad idea besides Leonard knowing exactly who he was dealing with. 

“Then we’re on the same page. Never met the kid in my life,” he said, laying it on thick as always.

“Fine, you don’t know him at all,” she conceded for the charade, and to piss him off. She could play that game too. She wondered about Leonard and Mick’s polar opposite reactions to the lighter. She trusted that Leonard wouldn't want to burn the Waverider down and had truly thought it was harmless enough, but she'd have to trust Mick’s instincts about his own self above that of his life long friend. Nobody knew you better than yourself. “Just don't do it again.”

Leonard sneered at her, but didn't get another word out before being interrupted.

“Stop talking about me like I'm not here!” Mick’s younger self spoke up from below them, “and I have a name, you know.”

They both looked at him, but Leonard turned his attention back on the baby almost immediately. Sara smiled as kindly as she could, which she’d be the first to admit had become sub par since she'd accumulated a body count. She tried not to think of the girl behind her and what she’d never prevent her from doing.

“Sorry Mi-”

“Michael Rory,” Snart drawled out, purposefully louder than her when he cut her off. She looked up at Snart and he gave her a pointed look. “We know your name. We’ve just got nothing to say to you.”

Mick’s younger self looked up at Leonard.

“You're an asshole, you know that?”

Kendra snorted, which only made Sara’s smile wider. Leonard smirked at Mick’s insult, genuine fondness reaching his eyes for a moment before the sarcasm took over.

“It may have come up once or twice.” He shifted and then stood up. “Well this has been a blast, but I think I've had enough of babysitting duty.”

He walked the couple of steps it took to close the space between him and Sara and held out his newborn self. Her arms automatically moved into a cradle in fear that he’d drop the baby with the expectation that she'd catch it. His arms brushed against her as they traded off. She tried not to think about how crazy it was that she was touching two of the same person at once because of time travel when suddenly she had an armful of baby.

Little baby Snart wiggled and fussed in her arms. It wasn't fair how adorable it was. The look on Leonard’s face was smug. Then the cargo door opened.

“That’s my cue to go,” he said and made a swift exit.

Jax walked in first, walking past them all without looking at them. Ray came in with a Stein that was holding the newborn Jefferson. She never imagined Stein looking anything but annoyed holding a baby due to the man’s lack of patience and lack of children, but after his worried eyes had tracked Jax out of the room, he looked a bit in awe holding the other half of Firestorm’s newborn self.

Ray came in with a grim pat on the professor's shoulder and slid his arm around Kendra when he got to her.

“Is Jax okay?” Kendra asked Ray, leaning against him.

“Jefferson just had an encounter that was...emotional for him,” the professor spoke up for him, “if you would excuse me.”

He started walking out when Ray spoke up.

“Um, Professor, the baby.”

Stein looked first at Ray and then baby Jax in his arms and shook his head to reorient himself.

“Yes, of course Raymond. Here.” He walked toward Ray and held the baby out for him to take. Ray looked terrified, but he took the baby. Kendra put a supporting hand on his arm but looked amused at Ray’s terrified expression.

The professor made his exit and Sara decided to do so as well.

She crouched down 

“Your turn again, Michael Rory,” she said and gestured for him to take the baby. His arms remained crossed and he lifted his chin up defiantly with a sly look in his eyes.

“And what will you give me if I take him?” He asked, and Sara was more amused than annoyed at him because this was the second time the kid had hit on her and she was nearly ten years away from the last time.

“I’m giving you a baby,” she replied easily, holding the baby out for him to take. He frowned, but looked resigned and took hold of baby Snart again. At least the kid knew when to quit.

“You know,” he said as she was standing up, “that guy nabbed that lighter you took from me.”

Sara’s eyes widened in surprise and she immediately patted down her back pockets. There was nothing there. She groaned. He’d never let her live this down. Mick’s younger self had a smug smirk on his face, the way it didn't quite hold reminding her that he'd recently been orphaned.

“Reminds me of a friend of mine. He used to steal lighters from the guards and give them to me. Don't know why he did it, but I wasn't going to turn down a good thing.”

Sara was torn between feeling pleased at this new bit of information she'd acquired, surprised that Mick had easily called someone a friend, or defensive that this Mick had made a connection between Snart and this friend who she was pretty certain was also Snart. It was exactly what the older version of Mick and Rip had wanted to avoid. It made her wonder again what the hell Leonard’s motivation had been to give the younger Mick the lighter.

“We’ll my guy’s just a sonofabitch,” she replied to which the younger Mick nodded in agreement.

“Seems that way.”

Sara smirked at him and looked over at Kendra and Ray. Ray’s expression had turned a 180 and now looked proud and pleased at having overcome whatever fear he had holding baby Jax. Kendra was cooing at the little baby and waving a finger for the baby’s tiny hand to clutch. It was stupid cute and Sara was curious to see what a cute baby Jax had been, but Kendra and Ray looked like such a couple standing close and holding a baby like that. She didn't belong anywhere near that. Still, Kendra looked up at Sara for a moment. Sara nodded a goodbye to Kendra and she nodded back before going back to the baby in her new fiance's arms.

Sara turned to leave, but then a voice spoke up that made her freeze.

“Aren't you going to say anything to me?” Her younger self spoke up, desperation creeping up in her voice, “You said we were like family, but you won't even look at me.”

She sounded so young. 

Soon that girl would go on a yacht to sleep with her sister’s boyfriend. She’d get marooned on an island, get captured, and survive. She’d kill and love and die. There was an entire lifetime between them and she was fine not examining that any closer than she had to. The repossession of self she was seeking on this crusade was unfathomable to that girl who’s greatest worry was that she’d get caught. Sara didn't owe her anything.

“We’ll...talk later,” Sara answered awkwardly, only turning to look back for a second to look vaguely in her younger self’s direction before turning back and walking away.

When this was over, if none of them had blinked out of existence, she thought maybe she'd have a friendly drink with Chronos-Mick. She thinks he'll understand.


End file.
